Ruling device



E. B. RADER RULING DEVICE Nov. 1, 1955 Filed Sept. 30, 1952 UnitedStates Patent O RULING DEVICE Elizabeth B. Rader, Salem, Oreg.Application September 30, 1952, Serial No. 312,225

1 Claim. (Cl. 33108) This invention relates to improvements in rulingdevices, particularly adapted for use in schoolwork, poster lettering,sign painting, chart printing, and the like.

It is one of the principal objects of the invention to provide a rulingdevice of this character which will facilitate inscribing horizontal orvertical parallel lines for guiding the printing of letters on materialbeing dealt with.

Another object of the invention is the provision of means wherebydistances between line units may be quickly and accurately varied.

A further object is the provision of a ruling device which is oflightweight, durable construction of transparent material, whereby workpreviously applied to the material may be readily visible to theoperator throughout the entire manipulation of the rule.

These and other objects will appear as my invention is more fullyhereinafter described in the following specitication, illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, and nally pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawing, Figure l is a top plan view of a ruling device made inaccordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is an end view of Figure l.

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional end view taken along the line of 3 3of Figure l, and showing in addition thereto a modification in the formof stiffening ridges.

Figure 4 is a plan view of a sheet of material such as paper, cardboardor the like, showing the invention in operative placement thereon, andwith parts of the rule eliminated for convenience of illustration.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing:

As best illustrated in Figure l, the invention comprises a main bodymember in the form of an elongated strip of flexible transparentmaterial such as plastic, Celluloid, or the like, generally indicated at1.

Elongated parallel unequally spaced apart guide slots indicateld at 2,3, and 4, are formed substantially throughout the length of the bodymember and are tapered downwardly and inwardly along one of their edgesas indicated at 5 to facilitate inserting a pencil in each slot forcontact with the paper being dealt with. Both ends of the slots aretapered as at 6 to form limit stops at both ends of the vertical wall 7of each slot. Both ends of the body member are notched inwardly as at 8and 9 for convenience in marking the side or marginal edges of materialbeing ruled to determine degrees of advancement of the ruler upwardly ordownwardly in inches and fractions thereof as indicated by thegraduations 10 applied to both ends of the ruler. The top and bottomedges of the ruler are provided with scales 11 and 12 graduated ininches or fractions thereof. The bottom edge of the slot 4 is alsoprovided with graduations corresponding with those in the scale 12.

Three parallel broken lines, 13, 14, and 15, are inscribed on the rulerthroughout its length for quickly and conveniently superimposing theruler upon, and aligning it with, lines or folds in the material beingdealt 2,722,055 Patented Nov. 1, 1955 Y with, so that another line-unitcan be pencilled in without the inconvenience of measuring from eitherthe sides or the bottom of the material. The broken lines interconnectcertain of the no tches.

In rulers of greater length than that shown, and made in accordance withmy invention, those portions of the body member between the slots 2, 3,and 4, would obviously be somewhat flexible and accordingly would renderit dilicult to draw a straight line or a series of parallel lineswithout securely pressing said intermediate portions tightly against thepaper. Accordingly, as shown in the slight modification, in Figure 3 Iform stiffening ridges 16 along the bottom edge of each slot 2 and 3.

One mode of operation or use of the invention is illustrated in Figure 4wherein reference numeral 17 indicates a sheet of paper or othermaterial to be ruled. The ruler is placed across the bottom of the paperso that its bottom edge and ends are flush or in alignment with,respectively, the bottom and the sides of the paper. A pencil is theninserted into and drown along the paper and against the vertical wall 7throughout the length of each slot to inscribe parallel lines 18, 19 and20 across the paper. Horizontal guide marks 21 are then inscribed on thepaper at the top corners of the ruler before removing it from itsoriginal position. The ruler is then advanced upwardly until its bottomedge is aligned with said guide marks and guide lines are againinscribed upon the paper by drawing a pencil through the slots asaforesaid. This process is repeated in the direction of the length ofthe paper to any desired distance and the spacing between each unit oflettering guide lines will be uniform. However, when it is desired tovary the spacing between the guide line units, the user of the ruler canselect any one of the notches 8 or 9 in the ends of the ruler todetermine the amount of spacing in accordance with the graduationsapplied to said notches, as shown in broken lines in Figure 4 whereinthe ruler has been moved upwardly a distance of two inches to establisha spacing of one inch between the line units instead of two inches asshown in full lines.

Obviously the operation just described may be started at the top of thesheet of material if desired. The margin of space between the bottom ofthe sheet and the bottom guide line may be varied by utilizing thenotches 8 or 9 as aforesaid.

While I have shown particular forms of embodiment of my invention, I amaware that many minor changes therein will readily suggest themselves toothers skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention. Having thus described my invention, what I claim as newand desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

A ruling device of the class described comprising in combination anelongated strip of transparent material squared at both of its ends andhaving three longitudinal unequally spaced apart slots of uniform lengthand width formed therein parallel to the longest parallel edges of thematerial, one wall of each solt being tapered downwardly and inwardlyand the other wall thereof being vertical, both ends of each slot beingtapered from the end of the tapered wall to said vertical wall to form alimit stop at the ends of the vertical wall for a scribing instrumentdrawn lengthwise of the slot, stiifening ridges formed integral with thetop surface of the material adjacent and throughout the length of saidvertical wall of certain of said slots to maintain the slots in saidparallel relationship to each other, graduations in inches and fractionsthereof inscribed across the ends of said material, said ends having aplurality of irregularly inwardly extending notches formed therein andspaced apart in accordance with the graduations across said ends, and aplurality of horizontal parallel spaced apart broken lines inscribedthroughout the length of the material and inter- 3 connecting certain ofsaid notches whereby the device may 443,652 be aligned with linesinscribed upon the material being 1,742,684 dealt with. 2,168,6942,589,525 References Cited in the le of this patent 5 UNITED STATESPATENTS 294 822 147,942 Hutchinson Feb. 24, 1874 102477 4 Jewell Dec.30, 1890 Bowman Jan. 7, 1930 Zachs Aug. 8, 1939 Absher Mar. 18, 1952FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Aug. 22, 1928 Sweden Sept. 2, 1941

